Ontario Reign right wing Devin Setoguchi (number 8, white jersey) fires a wrist shot from right crease, during a game on December 1, 2012,
at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.
(click to view larger image)
Photo: David Sheehan

ONTARIO, CA — While the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players Association continue to waste everyone’s time with ridiculous, embarrassing posturing and bickering, players have gone overseas to play in European leagues and Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), while others have managed to sign on with minor league teams in North America.

LA Kings goaltender prospect Martin Jones will be under the
spotlight as the clear-cut number one goalie for the AHL’s
Manchester Monarchs this season.
(click to view larger image)
Photo: Steve Babineau/Manchester Monarchs

But scouts for the Los Angeles Kings were impressed by his play—18-8-1 record, 2.12 goals-against average (GAA), .911 save percentage, and one shutout—in the 2007-08 season. That earned him an invitation to the Kings Development Camp in July 2008, where he made an even bigger impression, so much so that they signed him to a three-year, entry-level contract on October 2, 2008.

Jones went on to shine in goal for the Hitmen for two more seasons before making the jump to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League (Kings’ primary minor league affiliate), splitting time with netminder Jeff Zatkoff, also a Kings prospect at the time, in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — From the time he started playing youth hockey, all the way up to his time in the Western Hockey League, center Jordan Weal has heard the same thing, over and over and over…

…that he was way too small to play junior hockey, let alone at the professional level.

“It’s something I’ve had to deal with all my life, being a smaller guy,” said Weal, who was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the third round (70th overall) of the 2010 National Hockey League Entry Draft. “People have always said that I’m too small to play, even going into the WHL draft, people thought I was too small to make it.”

2012 DEVELOPMENT CAMP EXCLUSIVE: The Los Angeles Kings 2012 Development Camp for their young prospects begins today, at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California. Frozen Royalty begins its coverage with a look at forward Linden Vey’s 2011-12 season with the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, the Kings’ primary minor league affiliate.

LOS ANGELES — The young prospects of the Los Angeles Kings hit the ice for the first time today at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California, for Day One of the team’s annual Development Camp.

The Development Camp runs through Tuesday, July 10, with three on-ice sessions each day (schedule and camp roster available below).

For one camp veteran, forward prospect Linden Vey, who scored 19 goals and added 24 assists for 43 points in 74 regular season games for the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League in 2011-12, this is a time to push harder on his strength and conditioning regimen.

LOS ANGELES — As years pass, National Hockey League players continue to get bigger, stronger and faster, so much so that the size, speed and strength of the players has driven much of the game’s evolution into what we see on NHL ice today.

But with the rule changes after the 2004 NHL lockout that have brought speed and skill back into the game by clamping down on obstruction, smaller, speedier players once again can thrive in the NHL, but only if they can hold their own with the big boys.

The logos of the Los Angeles Kings, the 29 other National Hockey League teams, and of the National Hockey League, are trademarks of their respective rightsholders and are used with permission of the National Hockey League.